Harper Stanhope/Theories
Harper Stanhope Theory 1: Harper can time travel Evidence * This is how she appears and disappears right in front of Juliet and Jack. * This is also how she knows (in the flashback) that Ben will kill Goodwin if he finds out about his relationship with Juliet. This is why Harper is more concerned about Goodwin's safety than hurt about the affair. Counter-evidence * Individual characters time traveling has yet to be proven. * We've seen Others disappear mysteriously in a similar fashion without any time travel involved. * When Desmond time traveled he didn't disappear he stayed there in body in both time-lines. * Harper could easily have known Ben was a danger to Goodwin without needing to travel in time. If she had time traveled she would have done more to save her husband's life. * Harper knew Goodwin was in danger because she also knew Ben was infatuated with Juliet. Based on Ben's previous behavior, she knew he would eliminate any perceived threats by any means necessary. Theory 2: The Harper Juliet sees in the present is the Man in Black Evidence * Like the apparitions of Isabella, Yemi, Christian and later Alex and Locke on the island, the Man in Black is taking advantage of Juliet's guilt by manifesting as Harper and telling her to kill Daniel and Charlotte to advance his own ends. If the nerve gas was released from the Tempest, it would killed everyone on the Island - including Ben, who supposedly relayed the order - and Jacob's candidates. * This would explain how Harper appears and disappears right in front of Juliet and Jack. * It would also explain why she is never seen again. Counter-evidence * It is not shown or mentioned that Harper has died between the crash and the events of this episode. Counter-counter evidence * Since Juliet joined the crash survivors' camp, Harper may have died during this time. The Man in Black would know Juliet does not know this. * The Man in Black may be able to take on the forms of those still living. * Or at least make visions of the living, like Walt. Counter-evidence * Goodwin might have been a more convincing vessel. Counter-counter-evidence * Goodwin is dead, which would be less convincing as Juliet would know the message wasn't from Ben. Theory 3: Ben has lived this moment before Evidence * Harper gives Juliet the order from Ben to kill Dan and Charlotte, yet the present Ben has not been in contact with Harper lately, and doesn't have a clue that Dan and Charlotte are on the way to the Tempest. He's busy doing his manipulation thing at New Otherton with Locke & Co. So future Ben has lived this moment before and is trying to change the past. Either he sends Harper back in time, or he visits Harper himself from the future and Harper leaves the Temple to go to Juliet. The temple may provide a means to travel quickly about the Island. Perhaps through the Cerberus vents. * The whispers happen just before Harper shows up. Whispers may be related to two different time periods intersecting (Harper in future talks to Juliet in present). Counter-counter-evidence * There have never been evidence of whispers relating to two different time periods intersecting. It has been established time and again they often come preceding MiB/related to him (though they are "ghosts" of the island of their own accord, as well). Harper's message to Juliet When Harper said her message was "from Ben": * Harper lied when she said she spoke to Ben. ** Ben did not appear to be worried that a gas attack was immenent on the Island during his conversations with Locke. ** It seems his people don't even want him back, as he said. ** Harper was trying to prevent Charlotte and Daniel from appearing as heroes. ** Harper's goal was simply to manipulate Juliet into creating a rift between the losties and the people on the boat. ** She knows what she's supposed to say because everything happens like Ben planned it to. ** The order was said to come from Ben to make Juliet more likely to comply. *Harper was a manifestation of Ben. **Ben can project (dead) people into reality on the island with Jacob's help, in order to protect the island. *** If Ben can project images of people, why would he treck across the island to meet the losties in TTLG? **Juliet makes no difference between hearing it from Ben or Harper. Harper is Ben's will. *Harper was simply one of the Others who had somehow made contact with Ben and was carrying out his orders. **Ben must have a communication device in the basement where he is tied up. *Harper sent Juliet to the Tempest to distract Daniel from his mission so the gas would be released killing everyone except for the Others who are already prepared the event. **The Others lost the technical ability to control the station following the death of Goodwin, and needed someone like Daniel. * Harper seems to be able to control the whispers to her advantage. ** The whispers and the Monster have always been closely related. It was actually the Monster that appeared to Juliet as Harper. This would explain her sudden appearance/disappearance and the whispers. The Monster has taken the form of people from characters' pasts before, but may or may not be able to manifest as someone who is still alive. *** We never saw the monster and heard the whispers at the same time, they are not related at all. **** Yes, we have. When Eko is staring down the Monster in we can hear hidden Whispers, and the same in , just after the Monster kills Eko. Look at some of the transcripts, the Monster and the Whispers are very related to one another. Is Harper still alive? *Harper is alive, and her appearance in the jungle in The Other Woman was confirmed by the producers to be the real her, in the 3-10-08 Official Lost Podcast. *Harper is alive. That was the real Harper. The Others seem to have a tendency of appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. This is a part of their mysterious nature. *Harper is alive and the caretaker of The Temple before Dogen. *She is alive because Juliet would have looked more surprised to see her otherwise. *Harper is alive. She can project like Walt can. **There were also whispers before Walt appeared to Sayid and Shannon. *Harper is dead, and Juliet knows that she is dead and that they were just seeing a manifestation of her created by someone/something else. **Harper is an unlikely choice for Ben to send to Juliet. Why send her enemy and expect her to take orders to shoot 2 people? Goodwin would've been a better choice than Harper. *Harper is dead, but Juliet doesn't know it. This is why Juliet doesn't seem surprised to see Harper. Juliet knows Goodwin is dead, and would've been more skeptical about and/or disturbed by his presence. **Harper is a good choice to send to Juliet, because she would most likely believe her warning, especially after the fate of Goodwin. Harper was the one who warned Juliet to keep Goodwin alive. *Harper is dead, and Juliet knows that she is dead. She is able to appear and get instructions of Ben as she is a spirit and is able to access Ben's "cell" undetected by the Losties. **Is possible; the whispers are heard before she appeared to Juliet. *Harper is undead like Christian (LOST Official Podcast March 21, 2008) and can appear and disappear at will. The appearance of an undead character is often associated with the whispers (e.g. you can hear whispers right before Christian appears to Michael before the freighter blows up). *Harper is dead (being part of the whispers) and simply lied to Juliet to spite her. After all, it's kind of Juliet's fault that Goodwin was killed. **So Juliet can see dead people, aka Hugo skills? ***What? No. Many people on the Island see dead people, mainly attributed to MiB. But there have been a FEW cases where the dead people seen are unrelated. Communication with Ben Did Ben communicate with Harper while he was locked in the basement? *Ben did communicate with Harper. ** Ben left extensive notes detailing what his people should do given any possible situation. **Ben has a hidden communication device in the basement. **Ben said if his people wanted him they would have stormed in and rescued him by now. We know that they are usually surreptitious and "don't leave tracks." When Ben was trapped in the Swan, they didn't storm in, but manipulated Michael to break in and rescue Ben. Perhaps Harper and/or others of Ben's people did sneak in and attempt to rescue Ben from the basement. He gave them instructions but chose to remain where he was because, as Harper said, "he's right where he wants to be." *Harper isn't in contact with Ben **Harper just wanted to scare Juliet into doing what the rest of the Others want; the Others really have left Ben behind. **Ben had nothing to do with Harper, and neither did the Others. The Monster/Jacob/The Island wants the freighter people dead, and for whatever reason, can't kill them in the typical direct fashion, so it's manipulating Juliet into taking care of them by appearing as Harper. **Ben did not send Harper -- she's a manifestation of the island whose job was to give instructions to protect it, just as "taller Walt" did to Locke. * Ben communicated with Harper via Jacob. This may be the source of Jacob's power over people, to be able to invisibly carry messages around the Island. You never know when Jacob is listening or what he knows. The Black Rock / Hostiles *Harper was originally on the Black Rock and like all Others who came from the Black Rock (Richard and probably a few others we have yet to meet) she has a supernatural connection with the Island and can travel at will. Also she most likely does not age. **In Ab Aeterno (the flashback story of the Black Rock), it's made abundantly clear that the only survivor was Richard. *Harper was/is one of the Hostiles, just like Richard Alpert. The Hostiles should be recognized apart from the Others, because the Hostiles are still around. They're who are producing the whispers. **Jack says "She seemed kind of hostile for a therapist" ***The 'hostiles' was just a name given to the Others by the Dharma Initiative. They're the same thing. They've also been referred to as the 'indigineous' population as well as other names. The word 'Others' was actually created by Danielle and then used by the rest of the Oceanic survivors. Furthermore, it was revealed by Michael in his conversation with Hurley that the whispers were the sound of dead people who were stuck on the island because of bad things they had done and therefore unable to 'move on'. (Season 6) The Other Woman * is Harper just like Ethan Rom was "Other Man". There is an unknown association between Harper and Ethan. ** An anagram of her name is "Perhaps An Other". Originally Part Of DHARMA She has a certificate that shows a connection with the Hanso Foundation. DHARMA is funded by the Hanso Foundation, which could mean that they also payed for their workers education? Or maybe the Hanso Foundation owns a school that Harper went to? just a thought. Employee of Hanso Foundation Her certificate of recognition shows that she was trained by the Hanso Foundation and was sent to the Island by the Hanso Foundation to work with DHARMA. Time Traveler *After Ben turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel, the Others were not effected whereas the survivors, science team, and Juliet became unstuck. The wheel will be turned again in the future, this time doing the opposite -- the Others will become "unstuck". With the tables turned, Harper's appearance and disappearance will seem very similar to how Locke disappeared from Ethan's perspective or Daniel disappeared from Desmond's perspective. ''"You look just like her" *In the Juliet flashback where she meets Harper, Juliet says that Ben is being very nice. Harper's reply is "Of course he is, you look just like ''her." That her has been bugging me for a long time. I originally thought it meant his mother, then possibly Libby. Now that we know Juliet is among the DI in 1977, I think the her refers to Juliet herself, as Ben knew her at a young age and probably grew attached to Juliet. I expect Juliet to be instrumental in saving Ben's life after Sayid shoots him. This also lends credence to the previous theory that Harper was part of the DI before the purge. Then again, Juliet isn't using a fake name, so they'd have to be pretty unsuspecting to think that this Juliet looks exactly like the DI Juliet. **Is it possible she's referring to Annie? ***It would make sense that the 'she' is Annie as she was the only friend he had. *Since it was never mentioned again and Harper was a therapist (and a very astute one), she was probably implying that Ben was interested in Juliet because she looked just like his mother and saw a strong Freudian connection between Ben and Juliet due to his never knowing his mother. Harper in Season 6 *It's possible that the writers intended to have Harper reappear again in Season 6, but Andrea Roth's real-life pregnancy prevented Roth from reappearing as Harper again. So the writers simply dropped any plans to reveal the character's fate, hoping fans would mostly forget about her.